EDITORIAL
Calendar,
Calendar
on
the wall......
....whose photo you
recall? If all goes as the Manipur Students Union plans
you may soon be asking those questions of the calendar on
the drawing room wall. Or, at least the people in Manipur
will be doing it, since the goodies like palatial houses
of the leaders of the poor, the mansions built by the
servants of the people would relate all to Manipur. But
possibly the people of other States, say like those of
this State, can have vicarious darshana of the
abodes of their own mai-baap leaders and servants
because their mansions would be something on these very
lines. Only, they would be more splendid for this State
does receive more funds than that far eastern sister and
apparently believes in even less accounting than the one
surrounded by nine hills. They there at least, have the
students unions who think that the properties of the high
and mighty should be brought under public glare and
notice while nobody here about has bothered to make any
reckoning of the sort. And the Manipur Zirali Pawal is
going places. After having put the 'houses' of the
politicians on its calendar this year, the Students Union
plans to display those of the bureaucrats next year. One
cannot say that the vigilantes in this State have been
entirely oblivious to the mahals and kothis
being put up by the high and mighty here. As it is, it is
just difficult for even the most shortsighted person to
miss that splendor and grandeur not to speak of those who
are supposed to keep that sort of vigil. Thus it was that
a few years back the CM's kothi came to dominate
the debate the budget session of the State
Assembly.........more
|
 |
Rigged polls,
ballot-looters By M J Akbar
The first general
elections in In-dia began on 25th October 1951 and
continued.....more
TALES
OF TRAVESTY
Hurriyat faces
‘isolation’
By: Dr
Jitendra Singh
The Hurriyat Conference's
changing and often contradictory postures over the issue
of participation in the State Assembly....more
Energy for
rural India
By Vinay Dixit
Since time immemorial, man
has worshipped the sun. The sun is the source of all
forms of energy available to man.......more
ACADEMIC
PULSE
Major National
Curriculum issues
By Prof.
S.K. Bhalla
"The woods are lovely
dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles........more
Humans
Rights of
Security
Forces
By Daya Sagar
Unless attention is paid
to civil rights of security personnel, it is no use
expressing sympathies or saying bravo......more
|
EDITORIAL
Calendar, Calendar on the
wall......
....whose photo you
recall? If all goes as the Manipur Students Union plans
you may soon be asking those questions of the calendar on
the drawing room wall. Or, at least the people in Manipur
will be doing it, since the goodies like palatial houses
of the leaders of the poor, the mansions built by the
servants of the people would relate all to Manipur. But
possibly the people of other States, say like those of
this State, can have vicarious darshana of the
abodes of their own mai-baap leaders and servants
because their mansions would be something on these very
lines. Only, they would be more splendid for this State
does receive more funds than that far eastern sister and
apparently believes in even less accounting than the one
surrounded by nine hills. They there at least, have the
students unions who think that the properties of the high
and mighty should be brought under public glare and
notice while nobody here about has bothered to make any
reckoning of the sort. And the Manipur Zirali Pawal is
going places. After having put the 'houses' of the
politicians on its calendar this year, the Students Union
plans to display those of the bureaucrats next year.
One cannot say that the
vigilantes in this State have been entirely oblivious to
the mahals and kothis being put up by the
high and mighty here. As it is, it is just difficult for
even the most shortsighted person to miss that splendor
and grandeur not to speak of those who are supposed to
keep that sort of vigil. Thus it was that a few years
back the CM's kothi came to dominate the debate
the budget session of the State Assembly. But the cry
died when Farooq offered to sell thing for forty lakh of
rupees. Knowledgeable circles, however, believe that it
was the bagful of loans and allotments along with housing
plots that were announced by the Government for the
legislators that shut all the shouting mouths up. To be
fair, the cake there is sliced appropriately if not
equally. Consequently you do not have many lawmakers who
remain conscientious enough to call attention to the sly
acquisition of private properties by public men and
women.
They are all so much in
that none would speak out. And none does speak of the
huge properties, real estate and fleets of vehicles owned
and operated by the august member of the legislators and
other non-members leaders. This canopy of clandestine
acquisitions is being enough to contain smaller fry like
bureaucrats and even petty officials fully under its
benign shade. Thus a patwari can easily build a five
-story 'sky-scrapper' and a police man own half a dozen
metadors. The linemen in the electric department can
afford to 'employ' others as 'linemen' to do their jobs.
Even the relatively 'poor' teachers gather enough to open
private academies of their own and employ other
'teachers' there. But perhaps it is all bitching... this
detailing of how this lucky broke in Government or
service has garnered riches. It, instead, could be an
index of development, a measure of how prospering this
popular rule has been to people. Nor may one lament the
fact that only a few have so prospered. The mansions on
the calendar could as well be those of foreigners, say
British. And there is the value of independence: all
things corrupt and crooked are indigenous and Indian,
now.
|
Rigged
polls, ballot-looters
By M J Akbar
The first general
elections in In-dia began on 25th October 1951
and continued, in three stages, for about six
months as some 17,000 candidates, on behalf of
nearly 75 political parties contested for 489
Parliament seats and 3,283 Assembly places.
Ballot boxes and voters moved by bullock cart.
Fifty years later, despite roads and fast
vehicles, elections are still a three-stage
process; the problem of speed has been replaced
by the demands of security. Democracy is under
threat from another kind of terrorist as well,
the ballot-looter. In the first elections,
results were declared in between; no one thought
that the announcement of results in one region
would impact on the mood in another. Official
results are no longer declared in between, but
exit polls are. We know that polls can be rigged;
the Election Commission spends a great deal of
time and effort to prevent any rigging. But can
exist polls be rigged as well? As they say in
good parliamentarianese, this begs a
supplementary.
Polls can be
rigged but they rarely change the overall pattern
of an election. Can exit polls, rigged or pure,
change the larger mood of the voter during an
election that stretches over weeks and is
punctuated by predictions that claims to have the
sanctity of some science that the rest of us do
not understand? The results of the elections in
Uttar Pradesh will be announced at the end of
this week. The results of the exit polls have
begun to come in.
In a State like
Punjab, it does not matter what the exit polls
say. The results of Punjab have been known for a
couple of years at least. Support for the Akalis
weakend among the Sikhs and collapsed among the
Hindus even before the last general elections,
and they would not have got the seats they did
two and a half years ago were it not for the
provided by a post-Kargil Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee. The Congress could have strolled
into the Punjab secretariat at the first
opportunity, and that has come now. The opinion
polls are only debating the extent of the
victory, which, given the extent of the
landslide, is a meaningless debate.
But in a tight
election, a small difference in numbers does
matter. In Uttar Pradesh ten seats out of more
than 400 are probably going to decide who will
become the next Chief Minister. Sane and
responsible people have often wondered why anyone
should want to become Chief Minister of Uttar
Pradesh, but that is another story. (It is fairly
common knowledge that if Uttar Pradesh -- despite
the disappearance of Uttaranchal from its grip
--- were a separate country it would contain the
sixth largest population in the world. What is
not advertised is that it would also be the sixth
poorest country in the world, on par with Chad.)
Governments of large states now consciously try
to structure a stage-wise election in such a way
that regions in which they are strongest go to
the polls first. They expect a bounce from the
results of favourable exit polls that will
increase the enthusiasm of their support base in
regions less inclined towards them. In Uttar
Pradesh the BJP and its allies are strongest in
the West. Chaudhry Charan Singh's son and heir
Ajit Singh was made a Cabinet Minister last years
in order to ensure that his Jat followers, famous
for their ability to deliver whole villages by
the simple expedience of preventing others from
voting at all, supported the BJP-led alliance in
the State. (Indian politics is like physics;
every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Ajit Singh entered the BJP camp and out went
their former Jat ally, Om Prakash Chautala.
Chautala put up candidates in west UP, not to win
but to sabotage the BJP. To what effect, the exit
polls did not quite indicate. The bigger question
is: when will it be possible to write on
electoral politics in our country without
stuffing the column with parentheses?)
The first exit
polls were therefore from west UP, and served
their purpose of inducing a smile from a
decidedly nervous ruling party. At least one
senior leader of the BJP, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi,
is a scientist. He is also from Uttar Pradesh,
albeit from its eastern side, having lived and
worked most of his life in Allahabad. But clearly
he is unaware of the law that Indian politics is
like physics. If the first exist polls cheered
the BJP then they also had an immediate and
opposite reaction from the one community that is
united in its opposition to the BJP, the Muslims.
A key to
complicated and splintered electoral politics of
this teeming State is whether the Muslim vote
consolidates behind the Samajwadi Party of
Mulayam Singh Yadav or splinters, depending upon
candidates, between the SP, the Bahujan Samaj
Party and the Congress. If it consolidates then
Mulayam Singh will get the edge that can tip him
distinctly ahead in a tight race. If it splinters
then Mulayam Singh could lose some fifteen to
twenty seats by a narrow margin to the BSP or the
Congress. (The BJP is sensible enough to have
given up and hope of getting a Muslim elected on
its ticket; it has named only one Muslim
candidate.) The BSP leader, Mayawati, opted for a
clever strategy to enhance her prospects. She
took her own Dalit base for granted and
distributed ticket liberally among Muslims and
upper castes, calculating that these individuals
would be able to add their community support to
her captive vote and thereby enhance their
chances of winning a particular seat. There were
indications during the campaign that this
strategy was working. Muslims in particular were
setting aside their doubts about Mayawati's
intention of forming a Government with the BJP
after the elections, and opting for community
sentiment over common sense. This was partly due
to a feeling that the BJP had little chance of
getting sufficient numbers to make a credible
claim for participation in the next Government;
if the BJP or instance gets around 110 seats then
even with Mayawati and Ajit Singh it will barely
be able to patch a majority. But a positive first
round exit poll will instigate a rethink among
Muslims. They are more likely to rally around
Mulayam Singh Yadav in the second and third stage
of the elections to stop the BJP.
But the level at
which the swing moves is not going to be very
high. Polls and opinion polls can be depended
upon to get, more or less, a particular trend
right, but there is hardly an election in which
they have not made a thorough mess of the detail.
But then any intelligent observer with a gift of
the tongue and enough time to spend at tea stalls
and bus stops can get the trend broadly right. If
clients pay serious money to psephologists then
it is to find out the detail. In the last general
elections some of the more enthusiastic pollsters
had given the BJP thirty to forty seats more than
it got, partly because they had more then ten
fingers when counting Uttar Pradesh. By the same
token they underestimated the Samajwadi
performance in UP; not a single poll gave the
party the 22 seats that it eventually won. The
evidence indicates that the credibility of these
polls -- pre-ballot or at exit point -- is
uncertain where it really matters, among the
voters. They have become part of election
entertainment, like speeches or promises. The
jury is still out on whether they manage to get
anyone elected by creating a herd mood towards a
frontrunner. They may have more influence of a
negative kind, increasing worry levels among
those hostile to any party that has become a
frontrunner. The reputation of polls has not been
enhanced by the arrival of serious money into the
business, both from media companies as well as
from political parties. There is mushroom growth
of instant polling companies whose expertise is
as fragile as their morality. Money has been
known to purchase opinions before. To be fair,
the reputed polling companies, who do marked
research for business houses, cannot be accused
of underhand practices as they take extra care to
be transparent. But this science has simply not
reached a level of sophistication where the
research can be treated with the confidence with
which it is projected.
Nothing in any
election matches the excitement of the day on
which the results emerge. Thank God for that.
Which opinion poll, after all, predicted that
George Bush and Al Gore would finally slug it out
in the Supreme Court of the United States of
America? On the other hand, a respected
astrologer in Jaipur, Pandit Kedar Sharma did.
The next time you want an opinion, check with the
stars. They could be more reliable than exit
polls.
21st Century
Media
|
TALES
OF TRAVESTY
Hurriyat faces
‘isolation’
By: Dr Jitendra Singh
The Hurriyat
Conference's changing and often contradictory
postures over the issue of participation in the
State Assembly elections scheduled for later this
year not only betrays utter confusion prevailing
in this socalled "separatist"
conglomerate but also offers an insight into the
manner in which the concept of separatism is
sought to be used for expedient gains in Kashmir
politics.
Separatism is
not an ideology in Kashmir politics. Separatism
is a populist slogan in Kashmir politics. Even
the mainstream Kashmir politicians, when they
find themselves out of power, begin the jargon of
self-determination and "Azaadi" for
Kashmir. But, the moment these same very
politicians manage a re-entry into the seat of
power, they once again overnight turn nationalist
and start making loud declarations to state that
Kashmir is an integral part of India. In other
words, any political party which happens to be
the ruling party in Srinagar is automatically a
nationalist party supporting Kashmir's accession
to India while any party or group which happens
to be in opposition automatically begins
questioning Kashmir's accession to India.
The last 50 years
have witnessed several of the former Chief
Ministers and Ministers turning separatist
protagonists the moment they were thrown out of
power but their separatism never deterred them
from making a second bid for power. Incidentally,
Hurriyat is also no exception to this rule.
Several of the top Hurriyat leaders have been
former Ministers and MLAs. One of them was a
Senior Minister in the erstwhile Congress
Government headed by Mir Qasim and was even
tipped as potential successor to Mir Qasim when,
unfortunately for him, Sheikh Abdullah returned
to power following an accord with Indira Gandhi
and the Congress Government had to quit.
Thereafter, this same very former Congress leader
started looking for alternative means to return
to power and eventually landed on the Hurriayt
platform in a vain bid to overthrow the incumbent
Government.
The Hurriyat's
present dilemma also results from the same
predicament. A number of its ageing leaders find
themselves at the last leg of their political
careers. They also increasingly realise that the
geographical boundaries of the subcontinent are
going to remain unchanged in their lifetimes and
if they opt for boycott of electoral exercise
they would only facilitate unchallenged
continuation in power of Farooq Abdullah who is
all set to hand over the mantle to the third
generation Sheikh progeny Omar..... much to the
discomfiture of younger Hurriyat leaders like
Moulvi Umar Farooq. But then, the problem is how
do these Hurriyat aspirants make a volte face and
join the election fray without compromising their
credibility among Kashmiri masses and without
antagonising their sponsors in Islamabad? And,
even if they succeed in staging a face-saving
come-back to mainstream electoral exercise, what
if they fail to secure a majority mandate and end
up making a laughing stock of themselves as a
bunch of self-styled leaders who had all along
claimed to be genuine representatives of the
people of Kashmir?
The Hurriyat is
thus placed in a most unenviable situation. It
requires a very high order of political sagacity,
wisdom and vision to come out of this trap. But,
unfortunately, the Hurriyat is further
embarrassing itself by making non-serious
announcements like formation of an impracticable
socalled Election Commission which is supposed to
hold elections in the Indian part of Jammu and
Kashmri while conveniently ignoring Gilgit and
other parts of the State under non-Indian
occupation.
Living behind
heavily guarded security cover, ironically
provided by the Indian Government, the Hurriyat
leadership today stands totally cut off from the
Kashmiri people whom they claim to speak for. The
Hurriyat leaders may be blind to the scene of
this isolation but the common man sees all this
quite vividly. Umapathy sees the comic -
tragedy of Hurriyat's poetic struggle for
survival in isolation "Main Bach Bhi Jaun
To Tanhai Maar Dalegi......".
|
Energy
for rural India
By Vinay Dixit
Since time
immemorial, man has worshipped the sun. The sun
is the source of all forms of energy available to
man. The energy which the earth receives from the
sun annually is about 1.6 X 1018 KWH. The energy
which man consumes annually is about 7 X 1013
KHW. Hence the sun supplies 20,000 times as much
energy as man consumes from all sources. The
average yearly incidence of solar energy on the
ground, in the arid and semi arid regions of
India, is 7.5 Kwh/m2 per day. If conversion of
solar energy into electricity were economically
feasible, 110 sq. km of arid land could have
supplied the entire electricity requirement of
India in 1971-72!
India scientists
at the National Physical Laboratory did
pioneering work on solar energy during the early
1950s. They developed solar cookers, solar
stills, solar water heaters and even experimented
with solar hot air engines and solar
refrigeration. In 1954, the Government of India
and UNESCO sponsored a symposium on solar energy
in New Delhi.
"Can’t
You Do Anything To Help Us?’
Following the
symposium, the Government took thirty scientists
by air semi air regions in north west India. They
were shown the dry agricultural land, water under
the surface and the abundant sun- shine and
asked: "Can’t you do anything to help
us?" Unfortunately the enthusiasm for solar
energy faded by the late fifties, primarily due
to extremely cheap alternate energy resources.
Only a handful of scientists in the country who
had the conviction that our future lay in solar
energy continued their efforts to harness this
infinite source. They did excellent work
particularly on solar stills but no large scale
application of solar energy resulted from it.
Some time last
year a committee was established in India, under
the chairmanship of the then Energy and Petroleum
Minister to coordinate research and development
activities in the energy sector. It gave top
priority to solar energy research. The basic
research was to be carried out by various
universities, IITs and other institutions.
Product development work was entrusted to Bharat
Heavy Electrical. Area in which R & D work
has begun to be actively pursued are; solar
pumps, solar dryers for drying of agricultural
products and forest timber, solar stills for
producing and forest timber, solar stills for
producing fresh water from brackish water, use of
solar energy for power generation, solar water
heaters, development of cells for conversion of
solar energy into electricity and application of
solar energy for the purpose of space heating and
cooling. One of the basic requirements of any
solar appliance is an efficient collection system
this will receive special attention in the R
& D effort henceforth.
It is obvious that
the country has launched an all out effort to
harness solar energy. However, we must be patient
and not expect too much too soon. However, we
must be patient and not expect too much too soon.
The era of solar energy is not around the corner.
A lot of work has to be done by scientists and
engineers before solar energy can make any
significant contribution to our power supplies.
Solar energy has
the potential of fulfilling in the near future
the basic energy requirements of millions of
people who live in knowledge, it is most suitable
for villagers where there is plenty of vacant
land since the present collection system needs
ample space. It is not recommended for people
living in apartments in the cities. The energy
available in abundant sunshine, a thing which
India is blessed with, is the only energy which
reaches every human settlement in the country.
The technology for
utilising this energy is well understood, the
only prob- lem is economics. lnstitutions like
the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research
Institute (CSMCRI), Bhavnager, Institute (CAZRI),
Jodhpurs, the Central Building Research Institute
(CBRI), Roorki, and the National Physical
Laboratory (NPL) have done outstanding research
in application of solar energy to rural India.
Outside our country, the Brace Research Institute
in Mon- treal, Canada, has been a pioneer R &
D institution in application of solar energy to
developing countries. They have evolved
inexpensive solar operated devices which are now
in operation in developing countries all over the
world.
Future large scale
applications in India are; solar cooker, solar
dryer, solar water heater, solar still, solar,
air conditioning, heating and refrigeration,
solar pump and solar power units for villages.
Solar Cooker:
People in rural India burn cowdung, wood and
dried leaves to cook food. Burning cowdung is a
loss of precious manure. Women in the village
have to walk miles to gather wood and heaves. A
cheap solar cooker would be a blessing to these
people. NPL had developed a solar cooker which
cost Rs 350 but it could be operated on sunny
days only and was too complicated to be han- dled
by village folk. A "sun basket" has
been lately designed in Hyderabad by a scientist
working for the International Crops Research
Institute.
The basked is a
solar cooker costing about Rs 500. It is made out
of bamboo and smoothened by special papier mache.
The papier mache and the basket are formed over a
precise paraboloid made from plaster of Paris.
The basket is 1.4 metres in diameter. The inner
surface is lined with silver paper to form a
mirror. The basket can be used between 7 am. And
4 pm. Rice can be coked in it in 15 minutes and
deal in about 20 minutes. A full meal with six
dishes for eight people can be cooked in three
hours.
Solar Dryer: The
old method of drying fruit, vegetables and paddy
in the open air is unhygienic since it results in
contamination due to dirt and insects. At a cost
of Rs 60 per sq. meter, it is possible to build a
solar dryer. Large dryers can be constructed at a
much lower cost.
Solar Water
Heaters: We are familiar with the process by
which schools, hospitals and hotels are provided
with hot water.
CBRI and CAZRI
have been engaged in building water heaters in
India. A CAZRI heater can supply 90 litres of
water at a mean temperature of 50 to 60 degree c
in winter and 60 to 75 degree c in summer.
Sufficient hot water can be obtained in the
mornings if the heater is covered with an
insulated blanked during the night. The cost of
the heater is Rs. 350. The cost of energy
supplied is only 8 paise per kwh which is much
less that the price of electricity. Solar water
heaters are also made in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Solar Still:
CSMCRI has done extensive work on solar stills
for production of fresh water for drinking and
chemical purposes the pilot plant at Bhavnagar
has a capacity of 1,000 litres per day. Solar
stills have been installed at the Navibar
lighthouse near Jamnagar for supplying drinking
water. Due to the heavy initial investment, the
water is costly (Rs 10 per sq. metre) but, in
many situations, it is comparable with the cost
of transporting water by tankers. A solar still
installation in Haiti, West Indies, supplies 300
gal-lons of water per day to a village of 300
people; it is the only source of fresh water
there.
Residential
Heating
Residential
Heating and Cooling: Solar energy cab be
profitably used in meeting the heating and
cooling requirements of residential buildings. A
solar energy receiver located on the roof of a
house will collect the energy and transfer it to
circulating water. This water, circulated through
radiators in the house will re- lease the energy
to be used for heating or cooling of the house.
The cooling water is pumped into the solar
collector and re- turned to a hot water storage
tank which may be located at ground level or in
the basement of the house. In sunny locations, a
60 to 80 sq. meter collector and a 2,000 gallon
hot water storage tank can provide three fourths
of the heating and cooling needs of a 150 sq.
metre house.
If houses are
properly designed with adequate insulation
against heat loss, them the requirement can be
met by a smaller collector and tank. Hot water
can be utilised to heat or cool the house by
adjusting an automatic valve. There is a separate
circuit for the supply of hot water to the house.
Therefore, all these requirements namely water
heating, space cooling and space beating are
provided for by solar energy. There has been a
certain degree of commercial success in each of
the three requirements. The cost of air
conditioning and refrigeration still very high
compared to conventional methods.
Solar Pump:
Bharat Heavy Electricals is developing a
prototype pump of 5 hp which is expected to be
ready within a year.
The pumps will be
employed in minor irrigation programmes. Their
use in rural areas will result in conservation of
diesel oil and electricity. Experimental solar
pumps have been operating in Dakar, Senegal,
since 1962. Recently a new French manufactured
"Sofretes" 1-113 bp pump installation,
was set up in Daker. The functioning of the solar
pumps is based upon a type of thermodynamic
cycle.The heat of the sun is captured by a flat,
black surface with heating water circulating
underneath. The hot water hearts another fluid
through a heat exchanger which is transformed
into vapour. This vapour expands and produces
mechanical energy. The pumps are as yet in a very
early stage of development, hence the cost is
extremely high. The price of a one-kW (1-1/3 hp)
installation is about Rs 2 leaks.
Solar Power
Units: A variety of methods for converting
solar energy into electricity are possible
including solar thermal conversion, photovoltaic
devices and bio-Conversion. The photovoltaic
method of producing electricity by means of solar
cells is attractive but most uneconomical Rs. 200
per watt. Solar cells have mainly been used in
space exploration. Solar-thermal conversion and
bio-conversion are more attractive methods but
the cost is still prohibitive.India and the
Federal Republic of Germany are exploring the
prospects of cooperation in the field of solar
power production. It is proposed to develop units
of 10 to 20 kW in the initial stages. A prototype
of 10 kW will be built in Madras in the first
phase of solar power production.
Vinayak
Syndicate
|
 |
ACADEMIC
PULSE
Major National Curriculum
issues
By Prof. S.K. Bhalla
"The woods
are lovely dark and deep
But I have
promises to keep
And miles to go
before I sleep
And miles to go
before I sleep"
-- Robert Frost
Friends, in this
unconventional write-up on an academic issue of
life and death I shall like to do some plain
speaking as usual and unless a far reaching
recast of educational priorities of which
curriculum issues form a part is undertaken we
shall be paving the way for hell despite our loud
protestations and pious intentions. Being a
lesser fry there is no hesitation in demarcating
the issues under five heads:
Pre-Primary
Stage: At Pre-Primary level the situation is
not only mind boggling but atrocious. Our
tiny-tots with their back breaking bag of books
have now been reduced to bonded labourers within
the precints of their institutions. Crass
materialism and a rat race for the goodies of
life supported as they are on ill-conceived
crutches of unimaginative curriculum with the
tacit consent of their parents is resulting in
stunted growth of children as they fail to cope
up with pressures. Learning by rote the basics of
education when the mind has yet to develop fully
is like stragulating the childhood on the part of
parents. There is no one to come to their rescue.
But at times we have an inkling of lip-service to
their cause.
Primary Level: This
is one of the most vital stages in the
educational ladder. Here much can be said about
the attitudinal unconcern of many of our
illiterate folk to send their wards to schools
because for them the presence on the filed or
household chores are far more important as the
very lessons taught at this level are divorced
from the realities/needs of life. There is also
the problem of language-whether the students
should be taught in local, national or foreign
medium or a blend of three. On the one hand we
have hi-tech schools catering to the creamy layer
of society and producing aliens while on the
other hand we have those who owing to inadequate
academic training remain more or less illiterate
passing the fifth grade.
Midde/Secondary
and Sr. Secondary Stage: Curriculum issues of
this stage are dime a dozen. There is the problem
of standard text books as the present ones look
like an "accountants' ledger" to quote
Vice-President Krishan Kant, medium of imparting
instructions as also inadequate facilities of
libraries and laboratories hitting the headlines
of media too often. The teacher-taught ratio is
too unsatisfactory and interactive teaching
learning process missing though a few academic
oases can be seen in the middle of engulfing
darkness. The recent text-book controversy
regarding History Curriculum which has now
assumed the dimension of EDUCATION DEBATE raises
many socio-political issues in which our students
have not much say.
Fate Of
Colleges: Being a part of this system. I have
no inhibition in speaking loud and clear that all
is not well on this front. Unimaginative courses
of study, outdated combinations in Humanities,
unmanageable numbers, lack of academic
discipline, too many holidays, missing academic
calander, faulty internal assessment system, too
much obsession with co-curricular activities in
certain cases are some of the areas about which
eyebrows are raised of and on. Gone are the days
when the Colleges produced thinkers and
philosophers to lead the society in large
numbers. We are producing robots fed on facts,
figures and unreliable data. The pace of
modernisation and vocationalisation is very slow.
In some cases new courses are being introduced
without a proper analysis of ground realities viz
proper reading material and trained staff.
University
Level: Despite 4- star status accorded to
Jammu University by National Accrediation Council
the situation on Curriculum front is not that
encouraging. Though some departments are putting
their best foot forward yet there is no dearth of
complaints viz delayed introduction of new
trends, exploitation of scholars doing Ph.D, or
Pre-Ph.D courses, examination schedules gone
haywire etc. etc.. The list is long and an
elaboration of affairs an unrewarding exercise.
Distance learning programme and continuing
education programmes leave much to be desired.
The standard of reading material supplied to
candidates of distance learning should be
compared with the one by IGNOU.
Curriculum cannot
be seen in isolation. The other day while going
through an article entitled WHO SHOULD SET THE
SYLLABUS? published in THE HINDU it was
enlightening to read that the local communities
should be involved in framing the Curriculum as
per their local needs but here we are worried
about the national scene. Herein lies the rub. I
have yet to be apprised by my fellow friends if
we have ever dared to involve the people or
bodies of people in this exercise. Rather we have
been taking the whole exercise in our glass
houses much to the detriment of our State.
Experts may say Curriculum Issues cannot be left
to the vagaries of the general public but it is
also a billion dollar point as all Curriculum
Issues divorced from the social, local, economic,
political and intellectual aspirations of the
people in the long run produce societal disorders
as I firmly believe that you cannot segregate
academic issues from the society's mindset. Here
the teachers can play a role which has now been
restricted in a majority of cases to demanding
more perks and increase in superannuation age.
Being a Chusner of
ideas I shall only put forth 5- point programme
for the kind consideration and consequent action
of all and sundry:
1) In the field of
pre-primary education serious efforts may be
undertaken to lighten the burden of school bag
coupled with intensive training of teachers
incorporating recent trends in the field of
Psychology and Audio-visual aids;
2) An action plan
with an inherent element of accountability may be
made operational for hitting the target of
universalisation of primary education at State
level. ZEOs' and Heads of schools may please be
asked to be action-oriented;
3) At the
Middle/Secondary and Sr. Secondary level adequate
Parents-Teachers interactions may be made
mandatory and our Directors of School Education
in both the regions should come out with a viable
programme for the redressal of genuine grievances
of community;
4) A word about
College level shall be appropriate at this
juncture. New courses like Gandhian Peace
Studies, Healthy Environment, Counter Terrorism
Studies and Defence Studies must be initiated. I
am told that such courses are operational in
U.S.A Age-old subject combinations may be phased
out and new vocational courses may not be
introduced in a whimsical manner. I have a point
in it and
5) Universities of
Jammu and Kashmir should function in all
earnestness as apex academic bodies for the
academic health of academically ailing society.
This is a tall
order, I fully know. Anyhow, people like me shall
continue to hammer on these issues as you cannot
separate the world of education from the bigger
mass of people called society.
I shall repeat on
Urdu couplet that has always inspired me at
least.
Manzil
Mele Na Mele, Iska Gam Nahin
Manzil Ke
Justju Me Mera Carvan To Hain
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Humans
Rights of Security Forces
By Daya Sagar
Unless attention
is paid to civil rights of security personnel, it
is no use expressing sympathies or saying bravo.
Terrorists so commonly overpower or kidnap an
individual belonging to security forces or one
related to some security men even from peace area
and torture, even brutally kill them. Surely such
killings are no less than custodial killings as
could be committed at occasions by the men in
uniform or the deaths as could be inflicted by
irresponsible security men in the way of fake
encounters.
In the widely
growing proxy war culture so common is the
gun-fire coming from a religious place, a temple
or a shrine or a mosque, that the soldier on duty
avoids reacting for counter - reply fearing that
this would violate the religious and social codes
as they exist in any society. Rather the brave
soldier, otherwise meant to fight on the borders,
looks too helpless and unfortunate holding a gun
with trigger locked and has to remain prepared
even to lay down his own life in the cause of
Human rights and discipline under his service
codes.
It is worth
considering that in today's world it has became
so common that a soldier is fired upon from
within the local and over-excited mob or crowd
but he does not return fire in the same manner
(as a soldier will normally react on borders) and
many a time, he remains standing with out any
arms action, exposed to the all risks and
dangers. It frequently results in loss of life to
a security person or atleast severe injuries
leading to extreme physical disabilities as he
cares that his bullet may not kill any mis-guided
innocent people. Thus sacrifices made for the
cause of Human Rights even through the 'direct'
victimization by the unjust enemy mostly go
un-accounted, entailing sufferings on their
family too.
In fact, Human
Rights are more violated and threatened these
days by insurgents, foreign mercenaries,
saboteurs and countries like Pakistan, Sudan,
Afghanistan and those who have started seeing the
UN Resolutions on the September 11th gruesome
attack on World Trade Center as attack on a
Islamic country and not on the enemy of humanity.
The defending
forces (army, security, and police) are
civilians, citizens, human beings first and the
soldiers later; hence as such they too deserve
protection of their natural and fundamental Human
Rights. Resisting and defending forces fight with
intruders and infiltrators to check and defeat
nefarious designs and unlawful movements as
carried with highly sophisticated weaponry.
Some champions of
the day who plead the abuse of Human Rights by
the security forces ignore many of the hard
facts. Rather well equipped intruders who may
belong to a third country and are the mercenaries
motivated through baits of money or religious
fundamentalism through wrong projections of facts
and are mostly otherwise the innocent subjects (
and some times even trained in the neighbouring
country through private terrorist camps and cross
the line of control or international border), are
the real offenders who commit all types of
brutalities, merciless killings of unaware duty
bound forces in civilian areas as well as many of
the totally innocent and unaware civilians.
In today's world,
that is divided in pro and anti blocks; and where
monteary interests have made even the social
activists, and in some cases even the media
journalist (more particularly electronic) or any
such bodies run for name and fame, the need for
such exercise is tremendous. Some find it more
lucrative when they move their own camera in
their country to project that they are unbiased
in their projections. The worst sufferers are the
men who work for the security of their country
and have been moved to towns an cities for
reasons of internal security. Although some Human
Rights Activists and the concerned Governments
too try to effectively fight the false propaganda
but still it has become a large international
phenomenon in today's times and hence some thing
specific must be done with the International
Humanitarian Law as is administered by UNO.
Provisions need to
be created in the local Law and also in the
International Humanitarian Law monitored by the
UNO for special courts where in the security
personnel, particularly the men from regular Army
who are summoned for internal security duty to
could appeal, register a case for the violation
of their Human Rights and for protection of their
life.
The honour and
rights of security forces are so commonly being
put at stake by irresponsible individuals and
groups who are hungry for name and fame; and so
often label allegations of atrocities and rapes
on security forces without doing a real ground
work. As on date no court exists to register any
appeal or any grievance which negates the rights
of men in uniform.
World must today
write a new chapter in the International
Humanitarian Law to restrain those who cry for
their own human rights but have regards for the
life and rights of others.
If any one out of
the duty bound security forces who are on patrol
duty for protection of the boundaries of a
country (when not in regular war) is killed by
the well equipped infiltrator in disguise then
that killing should be considered the abuse of
Human Rights under the International Law since
the regular soldier lays down his life in the
cause of national duty under restricted
operational code. Unfortunately very less
resentment are expressed in this regard by the
'civilized' world. It is surely a very sad
feature.
On the other hand,
if a fanatic fundamentalist intruder of
infiltrator who intrudes for disrupting the peace
in a foreign country is killed through any type
of offensive after a warning by a duty bound
soldier, in that event that killing should not be
considered as a abuse of Human Rights of the
infiltrator because the intruder is an offender
of law who has failed to lay down arms even on
call and has no right on Human Rights since he
has no regard for Human Values.
If an intruder in
league with the local insurgents organises an
offence to destabilise the home Government on any
basis including religion, the forces of the
country concerned must have written and well
defined Laws under a modified International
Humanitarian Law to eliminate that insurgency so
that the question of Human Rights violations is
not raised so casually even if there is total
elimination of those carrying the gun culture.
And in case the UN's help is needed, it should be
available on immediate agenda.
Killing of the
State forces by the armed men and particularly by
the infiltrators of foreign origin surely need to
be brought in the ambit of violation abuse of
Human Rights of the citizens of the country
concerned in general.
Intruders and
infiltrators are amongst the real culprits who
encroach upon the Human Rights under principles
of natural justice. They have no moral and civil
code to follow rather they are inhuman, and hence
do not fall; in the ambit of extension of human
rights protection to them. This must form
integral part of International Humanitarian Law.
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